View full sizeAP Photo, Daily Sitka Sentinel, Joel Brady-PowerIn a photo taken by a Good Samaratan vessel owner, Joel Brady-Power, a U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Sitka Jayhawk helicopter hovers near Ryan Harris as the 19-year-old fisherman tries to stay upright in a blue fish bin near Sitka, Alaska, Saturday.

SITKA, Alaska (AP) -- A fisherman who spent a night adrift in a 4-by-4 foot plastic fish bin after his boat sank off Alaska says he gave himself pep talks and sang "Rudolf, the Red-Nosed Reindeer" and "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" to keep his spirits up.

His fellow crewmember managed to get into a survival suit and washed ashore on a beach after his own night afloat.

A Coast Guard helicopter hoisted Ryan Harris, 19, of Sitka, from his plastic "lifeboat" on Saturday, more than 24 hours after the boat sank on Friday, the Daily Sitka Sentinel reported.

Two hours before Harris' rescue, crewmate Stonie "Mac" Huffman of Sitka was rescued from a beach about 25 miles northwest of Sitka.

Harris told the newspaper he's happy both he and his buddy survived after their 28-foot aluminum boat got hit by big waves and overturned.

They were dumped into the water before they could send a mayday. The search for them started after friends reported them overdue Friday night.

"It's truly a miracle they survived," said Sitka Mountain Rescue Director Don Kluting, who helped in the search.

"I never thought I was going to die, but I was worried about Mac," Harris told the newspaper Monday. "I'm glad to be here."